How To Get Out of The “Coupon Trap”
Bloglites
Retailer Stories
Listening to Your Customers: One Store's Experience
refining product choices to meet consumer wants
A Day Spa Tries Local Marketing for New Business
gaining new customers from your neighborhood
Marketing Spas in Tough TImes
an interview with the owner of cloud mover spa
A Restaurant Learns that "Value" is better than "Price"
learning how to create value instead of lowering prices
One Retailer's Example of Creating "Benefit Offers"
bundling products or services to benefit customers
Action Guides
How To Stop Losing Your Customers!
it is easier to keep your customers than trying to get new ones. so, stop losing customers! this 7-page guide will help you learn ...and most importantly how to win them back.
How to Handle the Wait and Keep Customers Happy
it's wonderful to have so many customers in your location that they may have to wait. do you and your staff do "the right things" to keep them happy while they wait? this 4-page action guide contains over 25 tried-and-true "right things" to keep your customers waiting contentedly.
How to Track Your Advertising and Coupon Efforts
"half the money i spend on advertising is wasted. i just don't know which half." do you know which of your advertising tactics are working to drive sales? this 6-page action guide will help you: *understand how different campaigns work * track and monitor which campaigns are working..and which are not. * decide how to improve your advertising results * know what response you are getting compared to industry averages
How to Create Cooperative Promotions
do you know how to go about creating, implementing and nurturing successful co-promotions? this 4-page action guide spells out the step-by-step details to creating cooperative promotions that work!
How To Deal With A New Competitor In Your Area
6 page action guide with step-by-step step suggestions to beat your newest competitor
Related Articles
12 Tips to help small retailers thrive in a recession
so, how do you, the small retailer, make sure your customers continue shopping at your store during tough economic times? here are 12 ideas to consider:
3 for 3 goals from "The Marketing Minute"
advocates setting three short term goals to achieve success
The Future of Ad Writing
the future of ad writing
5 Newspaper Advertising Myths
quick pointers for making a great newspaper ad.
Creating a Newspaper Advertisement
step by step info on creating a great retail ad.
Book Excerpts
Member Comments
“we’re scheduling more ‘try me nights’ where people can come in and work out for free. we schedule these on the slow nights of the week and let our ‘regulars’ know that they’ll be a few more people here on those nights. we give our regulars who are in on the ‘try me’ nights a free juice drink to make up for any inconvenience.”todd h, cedar city, ut fitness center
“last summer we decided to focus on children in art. we took all items that even remotely seemed like something a child would like to work with and put them on sale. we have had weekly contests for children to participate in...a different theme each week....awarding them a small gift certificate.all of this naturally brings in parents...and we endeavor to engage them in buying their own supplies!.” hannah y, elsmwood, ct teacher supply store
“some in our center used post it notes as flyers that they put on cars. we asked them about it and they said that they got better response than before with normal flyers. plus they had no complaints from the landlord about flyers all over the parking lot. they used the local printer and had 500 of the post it notes printed. one thing that they said was important is that they put the note on the driver’s side door not on the windshield.”alexis v, newport beach, ca, dress boutique
we've started to give away bookmarks with the name, address, web and phone number for the store, and we drop several in a bag so people can share with their friends. we're trying to think of other low-cost freebies too, including book club reading lists, for customers.tom t., bookseller, spokane wa.
i’m really focusing on referrals…i make a point to mail a postcard to former clients and ask for referrals, and send a gift certificate to a nice restaurant to every client who gives me a referral.patrick o. rapid city, sd- real estate



Be careful to not reduce your price too far in a recession